


Isolated Sleep Paralysis

by ERNest



Series: 15 Days of FatT 2019 [15]
Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: 15 Days of FatT, Escapism, Gen, Season: Marielda, The Heat and the Dark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-20
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-26 06:56:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18177347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ERNest/pseuds/ERNest
Summary: Castille overindulges her vice.





	Isolated Sleep Paralysis

     Castille, woman of stone, is a woman with a past. Charter was sent to chart a path for Something to use in its attack against Nothing, a living document of rights and responsibilities, but now lives in a new form because that was better than dying. Right now she doesn’t want to be either woman, so she takes a third option, taking advantage of the form she made herself

     When she needs a break she is accustomed to letting her mind go blank while her body goes through its natural motions. Form leads function, and hers is to be on patrol. Castille does not feel in the way that beings of flesh do, but even when she recedes from herself she is aware of the momentum of her strides. She is ocean beating on rock; she is a solid vessel capable of holding fire water without being burned through. And then she wakes up to the plain walls of her studio, days or hours later. She finds she can think clearer when she doesn’t have to all the time.

     And then she goes too far, continually disappears to do the Duty without taking a break from her breaks, and ends up getting too close to the University. Wherever she is submerged she feels the pull of something dark, a relentless tide sucking at her consciousness. Charter thinks for sure that she will be lost, and probably never seen again, but instead she is tapped. This will be her last time serving as a Pala-din, and if she doesn’t want it to be her last time as _anything_  she will have to pay attention. Castille does this to forget Charter, Charter does this to forget Castille, but now neither of them can sleep. The Heat and the Dark are waiting for her mind to wander so _they_  can stroll into the shell of her instead. She forces herself to stay awake.


End file.
